One of my favorite places to eat in Astoria! Here are my two reviews.
2/14/2011
After a few more visits, Ornella has become one of my favorite restaurants in Astoria. From he value, to the service, and most importantly the food, this place is fantastic. Recently I had a wonderful dinner here on a Monday which is steak night. The steak was amazing, well seasoned, a tender beautiful porterhouse, for $15! I had the sheet of fresh pasta stuffed with a melange of chicken, pork, mushroom, cheese and various other things, served over a pink sauce. Fantastic flavors, great rich filling entree. Then the owner walked over with a new entree he is working on, knowing I enjoy funkier foods as well as the classics he offers me something I've never had, sheep. This was a great cold sheep salad with vinegar over greens. It was not as gamey or funky as I would expect sheep to be, this was clean and very nice, although not very lean. I liked this very much, fun flavors, great match of heavier meat with fresh crisp lightly seasoned greens.
I've also been here for the Pork Night, which I have to say really excited me. It was by complete surprise and i was thrilled with this dinner. It started with Porketta over greens, a good cut of meat not featured often enough, love this start. As with everything, this was a big starter. The The best course was the pork tenderloin in red wine sauce. One of my favorite cuts of meat, in a very rich sauce, rich and velvety. Pork heaven. The pork blood pudding was very good, the texture was strange but delicious. Love the creativity and the fun that Ornella brings to the table. The standards are excellent and huge, from the Parmesan to the steaks as mentioned.
They have excellent wine by the glass, or half carafe as it seems they serve. Great value again. The owner cares about the food he serves, its something different than you can get pretty much anywhere. Quite a few dishes i've never seen and are I hear from various little towns in Italy, as well as wonderful house creations. This is one of the places i recommend most to people in NYC, or looking an amazing meal at Queens prices. Half a block from the train, this place is highly recommended!
10/17/2010
Really interesting well made Italian food. Very nice relaxing place, very friendly service. They serve some traditional Italian dishes (parmigiana) and many smaller dishes you can only find in certain towns in Italy. They do not limit the food to region either, its diverse Italian food. We started with a small carafe of Chianti for $15 which was about 1.5 glasses each, very nice price for dinner. For an appetizer we had the Duck Meatballs in what I believe was a cognac sauce. Really nice appetizer, like nothing I've had before. They were large and stuffed with cheese, the sauce was very sweet but i thought it went very well with the meatball. For my entree i had the Chestnut fresh pasta with pistachio cream sauce. Fantastic dish, a bit heavy, but that's what i expected. Very rich creamy sauce, lots of flavor, highly recommended. The veal parmigiana was very good, standard. For desert we the lemon cake and the eggplant cake are both good choices, not very sweet, but a good refreshing end to the meal. Excellent flavors and service, I'll be back here for sure. Looking forward to trying other things on the menu I've never had before.
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